396 BRITISH BIRDS. 



COLUMBA PALUMBUS. 

 RING-DOVE. 



(Plate 17.) 



Columlja palumbua, Briss. Om. i. p. 89 (1760) ; Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 282 (1766) ; 

 et auctonim pluiimorum — Latham, Temminek, Naumann, Dresser, Saunders, 

 ' &c. 

 Columba torquata, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Sfc. Brit. Mus. p. 26 (1816). 

 Palumbus palumbus (Linn.), Kaup, Nat. Syst. p. 107 (1829). 

 Columba pinetorum, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 488 (1831). 

 Palumbus torquatua (Leach), Bonap. Cat. Parzud. p. 9 (1856). 

 Palumbus excelsus, Bonap. Compt. Rend, xliii. p. 836 (1856). 



The Ring-Dove is a common resident in the wooded districts of 

 England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. In the latter country it 

 is said to decrease or increase in numbers as plantations are cut down 

 or new ones made; but in Scotland, where the number of plantations has 

 greatly increased and the preservation of game has been carried to a much 

 greater degree, it has, as might naturally be expected, become much more 

 abundant, especially in winter, when the flocks of resident birds are 

 increased by visitors from the continent, some of which pass the Orkney 

 and Shetland Islands on migration. It breeds sparingly on the Channel 

 Islands and on the Inner Hebrides ; but on the Outer Hebrides it is only 

 known as an accidental straggler in spring and autumn. 



The Ring-Dove is confined to the Western Palsearctic Region, where it 

 is a resident, except in the most northern portions of its range. In Scan- 

 dinavia and West Russia it is a common summer visitor up to lat. 64°, and 

 occasionally strays as far north as the Arctic circle and as far west as the 

 Faroes. In the Ural Mountains it does not appear to breed north of 

 lat 60° but occasionally wanders eastwards into the valley of the Tobol. 

 It is an accidental visitor to the Azores, but has not been recorded from 

 the other Atlantic islands. It breeds sparingly throughout the basin of 

 the Mediterranean, but is principally known in that district as a winter 

 visitor. It is doubtful whether it breeds in Palestine, and there is iio 

 satisfactory evidence of its ever having occurred in Egypt at any season of 

 the year. It is a resident below the pine-region of the Caucasus ; but in 

 Persia Af'^hanistan, and Turkestan, as far east as Gilgit, it is represented 

 by Columba casioiis, which difi"ers in having the neck -patch buff instead of 



pure white. 



The Ring-Dove, Wood-Pigeon, or Cushat is not only the largest but is 



